


The Hunter and the Guard

by acurseofmeadows



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, but I did wiki what I could, but I never watched LOK, hurt/comfort?, i tried to make it canon compliant, mentioned aang/katara, trust me I'm getting to it, with more comfort than hurt?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23330878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acurseofmeadows/pseuds/acurseofmeadows
Summary: As the sun sets on Aang's reign as avatar, former enemies find comfort in the memory of their friend as they wonder what the future holds.
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	The Hunter and the Guard

When Aang died, her world turned grey. Of course, she always knew this had been coming. The seasons came and went, and so did avatars. Aang was no longer needed, and it was time to make way for the fresh face of perspective. It was something she came to terms with early into her marriage. Besides, at her age, it was a matter of time before all of her friends took that same journey.

That, however, didn’t make it sting any less.

Sokka, for his merit, dropped everything and stayed by her side throughout the affair. When she was too grief-stricken to talk, that brain of his would take over and make all of the plans, all of the arrangements. She could never be grateful enough to her older brother; still taking care of her, after all these years.

Toph hadn’t come. Though Katara had expected this as well, the ache of where her friend should be didn’t lessen with time. When she heard of statues of the Avatar being erected almost overnight, their small plaques emblazoned with “Twinkle Toes”, she allowed herself a small, private smile.

Her children had their own lives, of course. Tenzin and Bumi attended the funeral, but couldn’t stay for long. They had their own families, their own jobs. She was proud of the men they had become, yet still ached for them. Kya, though, was on the side that Sokka was not. Her daughter had held her up through this time, and Katara was endlessly thankful for her presence.

Yet Katara found herself troubled in the night, when her daughter and brother had retired to their rooms. Sleep evaded her, and she sat in front of her hearth, hands clenched around a cup of tea.

Katara felt his presence before he had a chance to speak. She smirked, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I thought you rose with the sun, old man.”

She sensed the firebender stop in his tracks. He barked a humorless laugh, “Aren’t we the same age?”

“Irrelevant. You are old, and I am not,” this was a far cry from their usual banter, and Katara felt it. She sighed, and turned to the teapot on the small table next to her, “Would you care for a cup?”

Zuko came and sat next to her, “Jasmine?”

“Ginseng. Something has to keep these bones running, you know.”

He laughed again, taking the cup she had poured for him. They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, then Katara spoke up, “You weren’t at the funeral.”  
Zuko hesitated before answering, his knuckles white around the cup of tea, “No, I wasn’t.”

His honesty surprised her, and she felt a familiar anger biting at the edge of her mind. Sixty-eight years of life, however, had long taught her to cool it. Her tone was level as she took a sip of tea, “Why?”

He paused for a moment, as if considering his next words, “I don’t know. Truly. My travel plans had been set, everything was arranged. Yet when I thought of it, really thought of seeing him there,” he sighs, frustrated, “he was always so full of life. I couldn’t imagine him motionless.”

Katara hums, watching the fire dance before her. She supposed they had that in common.

It was a beat before Zuko spoke again. His tone was flat, “The next cycle will begin here.”

She took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of ginseng, eyes moistening once more. It was something that had been weighing on her mind as well, “We cannot be sure of that. The next cycle may very well come in the Northern tribe.”

Zuko almost scoffed, but even that’s melancholic, “No. Even in a new life, he’d never want to be that far from you.”

The tears that had been threatening her began to spill over, “It won’t be him. You know that.”

“I do. But in some part, don’t you think it will be? Just as he was Roku, and Roku was Kyoshi?”

Katara shook her head, “Please, don’t say such things. Entertaining those thoughts will influence how we treat the new avatar, and…” with a twitch of her fingers, the tears that she had been so worried about flicked themselves away, “they don’t deserve that. They need to become their own person.”

Zuko grunted in affirmation, then Katara continued, “Regardless of that, though, I pray they not be born here. To see them, everyday, when it could be him,” she sighs, “I’d rather not do that to them, nor myself.”

“You know they’ll be coming to you for training eventually, right? You’re the greatest waterbender across the nations, and you’ve trained with an avatar before.”

She closed her eyes, “I know.”

Zuko sighed, then laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. She leaned into his side, and they sat like that as they watched the fire.

“You know,” Zuko laughed mirthlessly once more, “I could never understand you and your brother, when we were younger.”

“Oh?”

“Well, you two had everything I wanted, in a way. I was chasing the avatar endlessly, all for the chance of getting to go home again. And there you two were, you had the avatar there with you and chose to leave your home. I couldn’t fathom it.”

“It was a hard choice,” Katara said, looking into the fire, “It was many hard choices, actually. We left so many things, and people, behind, so many times.”

Zuko nodded, “I know, and I respect you both beyond what you could imagine for it.”

“You did it too, eventually.”

“Yet he wouldn’t have gotten far enough for me to do so if it hadn’t been for you two.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you came around.”

He chuckled softly, “Come on, Kat, just take the compliment.”

For a moment, the spirit of her youth overtook Katara, and she looked up to the Fire Lord and stuck her tongue out at him, “Never.”

He blinked, then started to all out laugh. Katara found herself erupting into giggles as he did, and eventually they’re both so overcome with laughter that they couldn’t differentiate between the tears of mirth and tears of sorrow. Look at them now, Katara thought between chortles as she took in the scene she was a part of, would their younger selves even believe it?

And so they sat there, crying and laughing and crying and laughing until their tea grew cold and the sun itself finally told them to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> so I've been on a *major* atla binge in preparation for something I've been preparing to do for years...finally, FINALLY watch LOK. I've wanted to for a while but never got around to it. but now is the TIME 
> 
> while watching atla, I also got the urge to do a thing I haven't done in years, which is fanfiction I guess. happy quarantine y'all, and I hope you enjoy! stay safe!


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